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Japanese Prints, Illustrated Books and Paintings: Lella & Gianni Morra
Japanese Prints, Illustrated Books and Paintings: Lella & Gianni Morra
Samurai warriors.
Ink and colour on paper. Unsigned. 18th century. 9x25 cm. each fan.
Three fine miniature fan paintings decorated with scenes of battle probably between the Taira and the
Minamoto: the arrival of the enemy’s ships, warriors leaping from one boat to another and warriors fighting in
the water.
4. Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671-1750)
Two lovers.
From the series Sode no maki (The sleeve scroll), published in 1785. Format: horizontal hashira-e, 12,5x66
cm. Each print, from this rare and unique shunga series, was pasted together to create a long hand-scroll to be
carried inside the kimono sleeve. Another impression is illustrated in Lane 1998, vol. 24, plate 5.
A kyoka poet.
From a surimono series of portraits of
kyoka poets. Signed: Hokusai ga.
Privately published, ca. 1805.
Format: koban, 13,2x9.
Another impression from the Morse
Collection is illustrated in Ota 1988, p.
106, no.167 and Nagata 1993, p.177.
11. Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
Mount Fuji from the Sazai hall at the Five hundred Rakan temple.
From the series Fugaku Sanjurokkei ( Thirty-six views of Mt. Fuji). Signed: Zen Hokusai Iitsu hitsu.
Published by Eijudo, ca. 1835. Format: oban, 24,8x37 cm.
Another impression is illustrated in Keyes 1990, p. 217.
A Chinese horseman.
Signed: Hokkei.
Surimono privately published, ca. 1820.
Format: shikishiban, 20,7x18,2 cm.
22. Hotei Gosei (Hokuga) (active 1804-44)
A traveller and a tea-stall maid, a parody of Two bijin by a garden’s gate, a parody of the 7th
the 6th act of Chushingura. act of Chushingura.
From the series Chushingura E-kyodai. From the same series as last.
Signed: Toyokuni ga. Published by Moriya Signed: Toyokuni ga.
Jihei, dated I/1859. Published by Moriya Jihei, dated I/1859.
Format: oban, 36x24,9 cm. Format: oban, 36x24,9 cm.
Midono. From the series Kisokaido rokujukyu tsugi no uchi (The Sixty-
nine Stations of the Kisokaido Road). Signed: Hiroshige ga, artist’s seal
Ichiryusai. Published by Iseya Rihei, ca. 1834-42.
Format: oban 24,5x37,2 cm.
Another impression is illustrated in UT, vol.15, no.42.
46. Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
A standing bijin.
From the series Edo no hana zukushi (Flowers of Edo).
Signed: Shigenobu ga.
Published by Wakasa-ya Yoichi, ca. 1849-50.
Format: chuban, 23x16,8 cm.
A scene from the play Yadonashi Danshichi shigure no karakasa (Homeless Danshichi: An Umbrella in
the Rain). From the right Mimasu Daigoro IV as the playwriter Namiki Shozo, Nakamura Utaemon IV as
Danshichi Mohei, Nakamura Nanshi II as Tomi.
Signed: Hirosada. Published in V/1851. Format: chuban triptych, 25x54 cm.
Another impression of this triptych, in the collection of the Ikeda Bunko Library, is illustrated with a
detailed description in Keyes 1984, plate 50.
58. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
Kuchi-e for the novel Haru no umi published in Kuchi-e for the novel Iyosudare published in Bungei
Bungei kurabu vol. 11 no.4 in 1905. kurabu vol. 12 no.11 in 1906.
Signed: artist’s seal Toshikata. Signed: artist’s seal Toshikata.
Format: 31x21,5 cm. Format: 31x21,5 cm.
Another impression is illustrated in Merritt & Another impression is illustrated in Merritt &
Yamada 2000, p. 137, no.6.3. Yamada 2000, p. 139, no.6.5.
Seated bijin with sleeping cat. Kuchi-e for the novel Jakko-in by Miyake Seiken
Kuchi-e for a novel published in Bungei kurabu vol. published in Bungei kurabu vol. 7 no.13 in 1901.
3 no.3 in 1897. Signed: artist’s seal Toshikata. Format: 22,3x30 cm.
Signed: Toshikata, artist seal Sho setsu. Another impression is illustrated in Merritt &
Format: 22,5x28 cm. Yamada 2000, p. 44, no.3.6.
79. Inuzuka Taisui (active ca. 1929)
Rouge. September.
From the series Showa bijo sugata kurabe
(Competing beauties during the Showa era),
a series of twelve prints of bijin for the twelve
months published in the early Showa period.
Signed: Ikuharu hitsu, artist’s seal.
Mica background. Format: oban, 41,2x27,2 cm.
Another impression is illustrated in Newland &
Shinji, no.254.
Kimpaen gafu (A book of paintings by Kimpaen). One volume, complete, 26x17 cm.
Published by Hishiya Magobei, Kyoto, ca. 1820. Thirty-four finely printed colour illustrations of birds and
flowers. Literature: Mitchell. p.362.
Seitei Kacho gafu (Seitei’s sketches of flowers and birds). Three volumes, complete, 24,5x16.7 cm.
Published by Okura Magobei in Meiji 23 (1890) and Meiji 24 (1891) for the third volume.
The best known of Seitei’s illustrated books and one of the highlight of the Meiji illustration in the kacho-ga
genre. Sixty-three double page and five single page colour illustrations. For a detailed description of the content
see Amsterdam V, p.83-4.
112. Kono Bairei (1844-1895)
Miyama no shiori.
Two volumes, complete, 25x17,5 cm.
Published by Honda Unkido in Meiji 34 (1901).
A fine set of pattern books with fifty illustrations and one folded plate
finely printed in colour with lavish use of metallic pigments.
Tosei fuzoku gojuban uta awase (Fifty Modern genre scenes compared
in verse). Two volumes, complete, 25x18 cm. First edition published by
Yoshikawa Hanshichi, Tokyo. Colophon dated Meiji 40 (1907). 51 colour
woodblock illustrations of satirical subject associated with poetry.
Literature: Mitchell. p.534. Hillier 1987, p. 996.
Dailey 1968: M. C. Dailey. The Raymond A. Bidwell Collection of Prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Springfield 1968.
Hasui 2003: A.V. Kawase Hasui The Complete woodblock Prints. Amsterdam 2003.
Hillier 1976: Jack Hillier. Japanese Prints and Drawings from the Vever Collection. 3 voll. London 1976.
Hillier 1987: Jack Hillier. The Art of the Japanese Book. 2 voll.. London 1987.
Hiraki 1994: Hiraki Ukiyo-e Museum. Hiroshige-Kunisada Tokaido gojusantsugi. Yokohama 1994.
Klompmakers : Inge Klompmakers. Japanese erotic prints shunga by Harunobu & Koryusai, Leiden 2001.
Koishikawa: KoishikawaUkiyo-e Museum and Nihon Keizai Shimbun. Ukiyo-e Arts Spanning 250 Years: Introducing the Matsui
Collection, n.p. 1998.
Keyes 1983: Roger Keyes. Courage and Silence: A Study of the Life and Color Woodblock Prints of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi: 1839-
1892. Ann Arbor 1983.
Keyes 1984: Roger Keyes. Hirosada Osaka Printmaker, Long Beach 1984.
Keyes 1985: Roger Keyes. The Art of Surimono. 2 voll. London 1985.
Keyes 1990: Roger Keyes. The Edward Burr Van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints. Madison 1990.
Lane 1996, vol. 2: Richard Lane. Complete ukiyo-e shunga. Volume 2. Utamaro, Komachi-biki (Embracing Venus) Tokyo 1996.
Lane 1996 vol.3: Richard Lane. Complete ukiyo-e shunga. Volume 3. Twelve Bouts for Eros Koryusai’s Shikido torikimi juniban
Shunga Album. Tokyo 1996.
Lane 1999, vol.24: Richard Lane. Complete ukiyo-e shunga, Volume 24. Kiyonaga (Shunga up your sleeve) Tokyo 1999.
Link 1991: Howard A. Link. Prints by Utagawa Hiroshige in the James A. Michener Collection. 2 voll. Honolulu 1991.
Nagata 1993: Seiji Nagata. Edo ga unda sekai no eshi: dai Hokusai ten, 2 voll. Tokyo 1993.
Newland and Perrée: Amy Newland, Jan Perrèe, Robert Schaap, Crows, Cranes & Camellias the natural world of
Ohara Koson 1877-1945. Leiden 2001.
Newland and Shinji: Amy Newland e Hamanaka Shinji. The female image 20th century prints of Japanese beauties. Leiden 2000.
Ota 1988: Ota Memorial Museum of Art. Katsushika Hokusai from The Peter Morse Collection. Tokyo 1988 .
Stevenson 1983: John Stevenson, Yoshitoshi’s Thirty-six Ghosts, Tokyo, New York 1983.
Stevenson 1992: John Stevenson. Yoshitoshi’s One Hundred Aspects of the Moon. Redmond 1992.
Tinios 1996: Ellis Tinios, Mirror of the stage. The actor prints of Kunisada, Leeds 1996.
Uhlenbeck,
Winkel et al.: Japanese Erotic fantasies Sexual Imagery of the Edo Period, Amsterdam 2005.
Yoshitoshi 2001: Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. The Final Great Artist of Ukiyo-e Exhibition Tsukyoka Yoshitoshi. Tokyo 2001.